Moments of momentous scale in a Beverley Hills home
It’s no accident that Hollywood was created in Los Angeles,’ says architect David Montalba. ‘The quality of natural light is so special.’ Take in a sunset at his latest project, a lateral, modern house located in the Trousdale Estates above Beverly Hills, and he suspects you will see straight away why the old moviemakers were so smitten.
His client, a Japanese woman who has spent the past 15 years living in LA, had seized on the site for its ‘magical’ outlook to the mountains in the north-west. ‘People covet the homes overlooking the city, but from the other side you get these expansive hillside views with this remarkable light. It’s 10 times better.’
Established in the 1950s and once a bastion of sleek Californian modernism, the neighbourhood has since suffered an architectural anachronism or two. On this plot was ‘an ornate but super-dilapidated Liberace-style house, set back from the hillside and weirdly close to the street,’ explains David. ‘It was a missed opportunity.’
In part an attempt to preserve said views, the area is subject to certain stipulations – including a ban on structures taller than 4.26 metres. David’s response reads as a trio of low-slung pavilions, with a capacious 200-square-metre central volume that frames wide views of the horizon.
‘There are moments of momentous scale,’ says the architect. ‘But also a quietness. In London you get these amazing parks and you can breathe, but in LA you have to find moments to really escape. She wanted a reprieve from the lifestyle.’
The house’s layout has a gentle rhythm to it, featuring long sightlines into the landscape broken by a series of internal garden courtyards that offer a connection to nature away from the eyes of close neighbours. Skylights and rows of clerestory windows, meanwhile, are ‘little portals’ that flood the property with more of that bottle-it-up Los Angeles light.
For all of its quintessential Case Study House cues, there are echoes of wider influence to be found in this home’s incrementally stepped levels and linear millwork. ‘There’s a lot of similarity in the thoughtfulness and precision of Japanese and Swiss design,’ suggests David, who grew up between Lausanne and California.
He says he is particularly satisfied by the slimness of the 12-metre supporting beam suspended in the living room’s window, which leaves the most important vista unimpeded. ‘Simplicity is often rather complex to achieve. That beam was a sacred cow in our office.’
The absence of flashy LA frills is conspicuous. ‘Some homeowners in the area will build a huge home theatre in the basement or a 16-car garage with an elevator,’ says David. ‘Our client didn’t want any of that.’ montalbaarchitects.com
